Page 26 - Sphere No.16 (Apr 2006)

THE CHINA CHALLENGE

G

RACE YEE

has a job that might deter many in the su-

permarket business. She is PARKnSHOP’s first Quality

Technical Manager for China, which makes her respon-

sible for trying to raise the food safety standards in the Main-

land to the same levels as Hong Kong. Apart from the basic

hygiene issues, there are also logistical challenges too. The 30

stores are spread all over the Mainland (mainly southern China

but also Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing and Chengdu) and tend to be

much larger than their counterparts in Hong Kong.

“Fresh food standards are the biggest challenge,” she said.“We

are just starting the journey in China. It is a monumental task

to put the same controls in place. It will take time but we have

started auditing suppliers. It is difficult to get people to change.

We get a lot of support from our colleagues in Hong Kong. But

some suppliers in southern China know that PARKnSHOP in

Hong Kong has very high standards, so they are psychologically

prepared for change.We have laid out quality procedures. Now

we have to put them in place.There is a very high turnover of

staff in Mainland China and a lot are migrant workers.We have

to lead them by the hand.

“In many cases, we are trying to persuade suppliers to buy

new equipment and build new factories.We have to change the

culture of the business.We are saying: ‘If you want to be a sup-

plier, you have to meet our standards.’ We do audits and we

point out the problems. Sometimes people were very angry

because they have to spend a lot of money. Now the feedback is

becoming more positive because once they make the improve-

ments they are one step ahead of the competition.”

Encouragingly, sometimes Hong Kong can learn from Main-

land China. A couple of years ago PARKnSHOP found a bean

curd factory in Shenzhen that had much higher standards of

cleanliness than any in Hong Kong.The company welcomed sug-

gestions about how to improve its technology and is now the

supermarket’s No. 1 bean curd supplier.

conditions are less than ideal and with this system smuggled

pork, which can be full of harmful drugs, is a huge problem,”

explained Mr Johnston. “What we do now is buy pigs direct

from the auction. Each pig has a number tattooed on its skin so

we know where it has come from. After the slaughterhouse, the

pigs come direct to our warehouse where we cut them up in our

temperature controlled hygienic pork-cutting facility - it’s the

only one in Hong Kong - and send them out to

our 220 or so stores. We have even installed met-

al detectors to ensure maximum food safety.”

In 1998, PARKnSHOP launched its FreshCheck

campaign with a 10-point plan that included food

safety audits of all its suppliers and stores, con-

ducting its own laboratory tests, raising its own

hygiene standards by training staff and introduc-

ing more comprehensive food labelling. Every year procedures

are improved to further refine the system. For example, in 2004

the farm number and “best before” date was printed on the shell

of every single brown egg from China so customers could be ab-

solutely certain they were fresh.

“We have nowbrought world-class safety standards to the fresh

food supply chain,” saidMr Johnston. “We gave our suppliers tar-

gets to hit and standards to meet and if they did not perform they

lost the business. Suppliers were in shock. It took a lot of pain and

a cultural shift in thinking. It was tough but it worked. We have

led the way in raising standards in Hong Kong.”

Takesushi,forexample,averyhigh-riskproduct.PARKnSHOP

staff surveyed the microbiological quality of their suppliers and

competitors. They found one of their two suppli-

ers was excellent and then worked with the other

to bring them up to the same standard. “We now

have the best quality sushi in Hong Kong from a

food safety point of view,” said Mr Johnston.

The laboratory in Sheung Shui tests more than

100 samples of fresh produce a day. For pesticide

tests, on average two samples a month are found

to have problems. “We can withdraw that batch from stores and

then investigate through our farm check system in Mainland

China. We can trace which farm it came from and take ap-

propriate action,” said Tse Ka-yin, Laboratory and Fresh Food

Safety Manager. “Some more toxic pesticides are used quite

legally in Mainland China on slow-growing fruit like lychees,

Food with

a higher level

of risk is tested

more often

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SPHERE